Microsoft BI Services Training Support

Microsoft BI benefits from the ubiquity of SQL server and the set of tools built around the database, including an ETL layer, master data management, data cleansing, report and reporting.

The reporting engine is SQL Server Reporting Services which does not have the visualization capabilities of visualization tools like Tableau or Qlik. Excel has historically been the platform visualization tool. Power BI for Office 365 has done much to improve the discovery and visualization capabilities of Excel.

Microsoft now offers Power BI cloud as the visualization platform with geospatial 3D, natural-language query generation, and self-service ETL along with charting and other data visualizations that can be uploaded and shared through the Power BI service.

The Power BI platform also provides live access to on-premises Microsoft SQL Server instances, and self-service access to third-party cloud sources including Salesforce, Marketo, Zendesk, and GitHub. Mobility is supported through a native iPad app, an iPhone app.

This new platform is viewed by Microsoft as a visualization layer sitting on top of their earlier generation of installed SQL-based technology.

The BI life cycle spans a continuum that begins with large amounts of disparate data and stretches to encompass people, technology, information, analysis, and decision making. The benefits of BI are substantial: new business capabilities for insight, forecasting, planning, agility, and strategy execution.
Realizing benefits is challenging. With many moving parts—infrastructure, technology, data, integration, analytics, applications, metrics, reports, dashboards, scorecards—putting the pieces together in the most effective way is difficult. Learn the basics of BI from end to end, with special attention to two of the most important factors for BI success: planning and collaboration. You are most able to chart a course for BI success when teams and stakeholders share common concepts, use consistent terminology, and contribute collectively to the BI vision.